Corporate Social Responsibility

The great Ken Welsh at one of my customers first brought this to my attention.  He sells print and document software solutions and actively encourages his reps to play the Green card.  Often firms will have some kind of statement about the environment on their website and in his case, where they can dramatically reduce paper output, tying this together with his benefits is a winner.

Whilst sitting in a publicly quoted concern’s reception the other morning, I thumbed through their latest glossy accounts.  It was an unusually dour such brochure for this day and age, so I was pleased to be able to read their Corporate Social Responsibility double-page spread with some relief.

Under ‘ethics & values’ there were three headings; integrity, knowledge, action.  Remembering I’m involved with helping sales people sell more, the three bullets under knowledge were music to my ears:

• to develop and apply knowledge
• to share our knowledge in order to aid excellent customer service
• to demonstrate our use of best practices in all we do

I must make a mental note to check out more corporate PR drivel in future, as I can help make each of these happen, and I bet none of the potential opposition competing for sales department funds in this business would use this angle.